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[Tovarisc]

Stacey English has modest desires for her 7-year-old daughter Addison: Be able to eat without gagging and move both her arms. But since Addison’s occupational therapist went out of business this winter, the child with a rare genetic disorder has regressed in her fight to do even that much.

“I don’t know where to go from here,” said English, who has been unable to find a replacement therapist in their Texas college town of College Station. “How do you continue to help her make progress when you don’t have someone to teach her?”

Some Texas children with special needs like Addison have lost critical services since the state implemented $350 million in Medicaid cuts to speech, occupational and physical therapy in December. In Texas, reimbursement offered to providers fell up to 50 percent for certain therapy procedures, said Rachel Hammon, president of Texas Association of Homecare and Hospice. Clinics closed and therapists quit.

The Texas cuts are separate from Republican proposals now before Congress, which academics say could cut federal Medicaid spending as part of a law to replace the Affordable Care Act. But the fallout could eventually be similar if some form of what’s been approved in the U.S. House, and is under consideration in the Senate, becomes law, said Elizabeth Burak, the senior program director of Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families

The Texas Legislature voted in 2015 to cut the state’s Medicaid reimbursement for pediatric acute therapy services, which effectively capped how much providers can be paid. Proponents of the cuts argued that Texas’ previous reimbursement rates were too high, sometimes even encouraging fraud.

Relatives of children with disabilities and providers sued unsuccessfully to block the cuts. Republican House Speaker Joe Straus vowed to restore the lost funding during this year’s legislative session which ended May 29 — though lawmakers eventually approved a budget replacing only about a quarter of what was cut.

Nelson now says she supported the original cuts as a way to prevent taxpayers from being overcharged for services. She says a Texas A&M University study found that the state’s pediatric care providers received higher pay than in other states.

“These are vital services, and we remain in close contact with the agency to ensure that access to care is preserved as rates are adjusted to align with rates being charged to other payers,” Nelson said in an emailed statement.

But those opposing the cuts counter that the study didn’t specifically research the impact of reimbursement reductions on access to therapy.

Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission hasn’t yet seen a drastic decrease in therapy providers because of the cuts, said spokeswoman Carrie Williams. She said three agencies terminated contracts with Medicaid networks for that reason and “all clients are receiving assistance finding new providers.”

Providers say that since Texas’ cuts, they’ve struggled to stay financially afloat. Kathi Strawn, owner of Therapy Options Texarkana, which served 130 children with special needs on the Texas-Arkansas border, closed her clinic June 1.

“I couldn’t get any therapists to keep working for me who were registered or licensed,” said Strawn, who had to cut pay for her therapists by about 30 percent. She began referring her patients to the two other nearby clinics — but one was too booked for new cases, and many therapists at the other had stopped taking children, citing low compensation rates.

“We’ve had quite a few patients not able to get service,” Strawn said.

Hammon, of the homecare and hospice association, said Texas has no accurate way of tracking children deprived of services, calling them “the hidden victims” in the Medicaid cuts. Children relying on home care therapists have the most severe disabilities, and those agencies have been hit hardest, she said.

Source: https://www.apnews.com/2d3dd338bd7444b985de62b7c2c70d57

 

[SeanC]

Wow, it's almost like if you take away care from someone they might suffer or something.

Someone should tell the GOP.

 

[The Last Wizard]

Wow, it's almost like if you take away care from someone they might suffer or something.

Someone should tell the GOP.

Your post assumes they have no knowledge of this when in actuality it gets them hot and bothered.

 

[linkboy]

Wow, it's almost like if you take away care from someone they might suffer or something.

Someone should tell the GOP.

They know, they don't care.

 

[Omegasquash]

They know, they don't care.

They don't care after you're born, that is.

 

[Silvard]

Your post assumes they have no knowledge of this when in actuality it gets them hot and bothered.

 

[smurfx]

so are all the people affected going to vote against the republicans? or are they going to forgive around election time because they have to keep voting for their team.

 

[witness]

We are adopting our kid from Texas just in time I see, he's in weekly therapy there while in the foster care system.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

so are all the people affected going to vote against the republicans? or are they going to forgive around election time because they have to keep voting for their team.

Republicans will be convincing these people that their problems are Obama's fault for the next 20 years.

 

[Raven117]

What makes it worse is that the state wont raise property taxes.

There is no income tax in Texas, just sales and property. Instead, they wont raise taxes on property owners (more well off people), and then cut other programs (including funding for education, thus forcing universities to raise tuition (thus making kids take out higher loans...that are readily available).

Essentially, Texas just in a round about way taxed kids to make up for the budget shortfall of supporting PUBLIC universities.

 

[Chumly]

"Ripe for fraud" ..... right..... we all know it's complete bullshit and they just don't give a dam about kids with disabilities.

Honestly what is a low reimbursement rate going to do for fraud? I bet you have higher fraud due to the fact that people will end up overcharging on time/procedures etc.

 

[Turbo Killer]

Isn't Texas a rich fucking state? Don't they have all that oil? Why cut Medicare?

 

[Zoe]

What makes it worse is that the state wont raise property taxes.

There is no income tax in Texas, just sales and property. Instead, they wont raise taxes on property owners (more well off people), and then cut other programs (including funding for education, thus forcing universities to raise tuition (thus making kids take out higher loans...that are readily available).

Essentially, Texas just in a round about way taxed kids to make up for the budget shortfall of supporting PUBLIC universities.

Property taxes stop at the county level.

 

[Protein]

Isn't Texas a rich fucking state? Don't they have all that oil? Why cut Medicare?

Wealthy Texans and corporations need their dick s....ehem......tax cuts.....dick sucked.

 

[RPGCrazied]

My state keeps losing.

I really hope I can see a blue Texas or at least purple before I die.

 

[HStallion]

Hey look at the GOP not giving a shit about people! Its like bird watching at this point.